Girls Tennis: Somerset County season review, 2011

Frank H. Conlon/The Star-LedgerGina Li of Hillsborough is The Star-Ledger's Somerset County girls tennis Player of the Year for 2011.

Player of the year: If Gina Li hadn't shown mental toughness, her one final chance to call herself the Somerset County Tournament champion would have gone to waste.

But after dropping a close second set to Kelly Williford of Ridge in the county tournament final, the senior from Hillsborough regained her composure and went on to a 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 victory to take home the coveted first-singles crown for the first time.

That accomplishment highlighted a 24-1 campaign for Li with the baseliner's only loss coming against the state runner-up, Joanna Zalewski of Linden, in the semifinals of the state singles tournament.

The Rutgers-bound right-hander finished her career at 79-12-2, while playing first singles for all but the first five matches of her tenure.

"After losing at the state singles I was disappointed," Li said. "But the next day I thought about what I've done in four year and I'm satisfied. It's been a great four years. People say high school goes by fast, and as a freshman you don't believe it, but it did."

"Losing that consistent point, and a hard-working and motivated player, can’t really be measured," Hillsborough coach Larry Johnson said. "I’m just glad she’s playing tennis local so I can follow and stay connected to her college career. She’s still growing as a player and is not close to as good as she can be, Rutgers is very lucky to get her."

Arthi Palani, Bridgewater-Raritan

Team of the year: Bridgewater-Raritan coach Curt Weaver was cautious about his expectations for his talented and relatively-inexperienced squad considering all three singles players from the year before had graduated.

But since he knew freshman Arthi Palani would be stepping into the first-singles spot and the fact that Bridgewater possessed more depth than it had in recent years, he wasn't pessimistic either.

And the talented group began to gel as it won the Somerset County Tournament and defeated its old nemesis, Westfield, twice, including a 5-0 triumph in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 final.

Then came the Group 4 championships. Marissa Sashihara, who grabbed some attention when she provided the clinching point with her final-round victory at the SCT, won at third singles to back victories by the first-doubles duo of sisters Avanty and Kaylyn Kavi and the second-doubles team of Shelly Li and Angela Chen as Bridgewater knocked off Livingston, 4-1, in the state final.

Bridgewater, which had won its only other state crown in 2007 when it won Group 4, topped Cherry Hill East, 4-1, in the semifinals earlier in the day.

Bridgewater then topped Newark Academy, 5-0, in the first round of the Tournament of Champions before bowing to the eventual T of C champion, Millburn, 5-0, in the semifinals.

Palani finished 16-10, Cheryl Li ended up 24-4 and was the SCT runner-up at second singles and Sashihara posted a 27-1 mark and won the county title at third singles. The Kavis went 23-5 and finished runner-up at the SCT and Li and Chen combined for a 22-1 mark and won an SCT title.

Coach of the year: Curt Weaver had already accomplished a great deal with the boys' program at Bridgewater-Raritan. Now he's starting to do the same with the girls' team.

Weaver, in his second season as the girls coach, led his squad to the Group 4 title, the second in school history, the Somerset County Tournament title, a victory at the Tournament of Champions and tie for the Skyland Conference's Delaware Division.

Weaver has gone 40-5 in his two seasons as girls coach.

Weaver started as the boys tennis coach in 2005 and led that program to its first ever group title in 2006. Weaver was named The Star-Ledger State Coach of the Year that spring.

Kelly Williford, Ridge

End of an era: Kelly Williford of Ridge capped her outstanding career with her second straight 20-victory season and a second consecutive trip to the quarterfinal round of the state singles tournament.

Williford, who will play for Virgina Tech next fall, finished the 2011 campaign at 20-5, after a 21-7 showing last fall. She suffered setbacks to Gina Li of Hillsborough, three times, Joanna Zalewski of Linden and Kate Fahey of Rumson-Fair Haven.

The lefty spent all four seasons at first singles.

"She's not just a good tennis player but an all-around good kid," Ridge coach Chad Griffiths said. "For a player who was an elite player, she was very involved with the team."

Closing the gap: Madison Stevens, much like the Pingry team behind her, has been gaining ground on the state's elite.

Stevens, a sophomore, improved upon her outstanding freshman campaign, with a 17-7 showing, a run to the fourth round of the state singles tournament and a first-singles title at the Prep A tournament. All of her losses came against top-notch players. She dropped three matches to Kelly Williford of Ridge, two to Gina Li of Hillsborough and one each to Dena Tanenbaum of Red Bank Catholic and state singles champion Taylor Ng of Haddonfield. Impressively, she stretched Williford, Ng and Tanenbaum to three sets.

Stevens was also the catalyst as Pingry won its second straight North Jersey, Non-Public A title , took fourth at the Somerset County Tournament and won the state Prep A team crown for the first time since 2001. It also posted an impressive 3-2 regular-season victory over Bridgewater-Raritan.

Unlike last fall when Pingry lost to Red Bank Catholic 5-0 with four matches ending in straight sets, Stevens and her teammates pushed Red Bank Catholic to three sets at two positions during a 4-1 defeat this time.

Also key to Pingry's success were first-doubles duo Naomi Wong and Stephanie Carr, who suffered only two losses all season and brought home a Prep A title, Juliette Pigott and Avery Hatfield at second doubles. Christine Zajkowski and Kelly Mao were solid at second and third singles, respectively.

"Beating Bridgewater was a turning point," Pingry coach Lisa Fung-Kee-Fung said. "That set the tone to win our section and Prep A. Now they know what's out there and that we can compete with anyone. Even though they lost to RBC, they're more driven now."

Shuffling the deck: Montgomery had almost its entire
team playing at new positions, but that didn’t stop the school from a
successful 2011 campaign.

Montgomery finished 14-6, took third at the Somerset County Tournament and reached the Central Jersey, Group 4 final.

The team was led by Kinjal Shah and Jessica Yang at first doubles.
The two, who came up from the junior varsity team, won a county title.
Yang relied on her groundtsrokes and her ability to retrieve extra
balls. Shah was superb at the net.

Rachel Casey made the leap from third to first singles and held her
own. Senior Amanda Tilles was solid at second singles after playing
second doubles in 2010 and Emily Szkudlarski provided consistent play at
third singles. Tiffany Zhu and Stephanie Allen had great chemistry at
second doubles, suffering only two losses during team play.

Tooles time: Brooke Tooles only started playing competitive tennis
just over a year ago. But the sophomore already earned her way into the
first singles spot at Franklin.

Tooles, who played doubles as a freshman, went 11-9 this fall for
Franklin (5-13). Her effort helped soften the blow of graduating six of
seven starters from last season’s 4-14 squad.

“I wasn’t sure if we would win a match,” Franklin coach Ken Margolin
said. “Brooke has come a long way in a short time. And she was a much
better player at the end of this season than at the beginning.”

Tooles’ style may be unorthodox. The lefthander doesn’t use a great
amount of pace but tries to mix shots and outsmart her opponent. She’s a
hard worker who practices six days a week, hitting with Franklin
assistant coach Denise Williams whenever she can. Tooles also went to an
eight-week camp over the summer to prepare for the 2011 campaign.

Franklin was also led by juniors Lauren Kwock and Sharde Dennis, as well as its lone senior Kerry Lengyel.

Drop shots: Among the highlights for Immaculata (6-13) were 3-2
victories over Somerville and Bernards, the first against either of the
schools in quite some time. Senior Leo Batongbakal clinched the triumph
over Bernards and finished the campaign 7-8, playing second and third
singles and first doubles. ... Second-singles player Elena Cerati had a
stellar season playing behind star Kelly Williford at Ridge. The
sophomore, who played first doubles as a freshman, won the SCT title and
finished 15-4. Cerati liked to dictate play from the baseline and hopes
to add consistency and an ability to finish more points during her
junior campaign. ... Kristen Mehnert made the jump from second to first
singles and ended up 16-4 in team play for Somerville (6-14). The
three-year starter, who also runs track, relies on her foot speed to
track down balls and relied on her consistency. ... Playing in the tough
Skyland Conference-Delaware Division left Watchung Hills with a 3-16
record. But the season wasn’t without its highlights. The play of
second-doubles tandem, Paige Petrosky and Elyssa Rudnitsky, impressed
coach Brian Brown. The two won a match against Hunterdon Central’s first- doubles pair. ... Senior Marissa Sarfati managed a 9-9 mark at first
singles for North Plainfield (8-11). Megan Hynes and Shanice Mendoza,
playing together for the first time, posted an 11-8 mark at first
doubles. North Plainfield suffered six 3-2 losses and coach Lauren Paich
is hoping this season’s experience will help the team reverse a few of
them next fall. ... A bright spot for Mount St. Mary during its 10-8
campaign was the play of Kristina Linares at second singles. The
sophomore finished 13-5, helping her school overcome the graduation of
its top two players from last fall and improve upon its 5-13 showing in
2010.